Core and Glencore presented operating data from the GPM Gold project in Armenia, along with overviews of five other operating Albion Process plants, at the 2018 CIM conference in Vancouver in May.

The challenge
The GPM Gold project in Armenia had been faced with a strongly refractory gold resource (recoveries of 20% in testwork) from 2012, as the historical simple oxide ores were depleted.

After researching the alternatives, new owners GPM Gold chose the Albion Process as the treatment route for these difficult ores. The new plant was commissioned in 2014 and has since operated with stable gold recoveries above design levels, and often more than 95%.

The outcome
The Albion plant is now producing 120,000 oz of gold per annum, at up to 130% of nameplate capacity.

Despite operating in an unindustrialised nation with a relatively unskilled workforce, gold recovery has been consistently above the design level of 92%. This is despite widely varying feed, with sulphide oxidation varying from 30% to 80%, sulphur grade varying from 10% to 30%, and throughput varying from 100 tpd to 350 tpd.

In practice the Albion Process has proved remarkably robust and simple in operation, and consistently exceeds design parameters, despite a capital cost that is less than 70% of an equivalent pressure oxidation plant.

A proven solution
Worldwide there are now three Albion operations in zinc, two treating gold, and with the recent commissioning of a plant in Africa, one copper installation.